Squad Watch: Week 6. Is Smuda Losing It? Problems Mounting.

April 12th, 2011 | by: tomasz | Comments(47)

Michał Żewłakow spilled the beans. Then Robert Lewandowski mentioned the lack of proper tactics. Now Polonia Warsaw and national team players, Mierzejewski, Jodłowiec and Sobiech, openly reject the idea of including Manuel Arboleda in our Euro team. Maniek lost what was left of the respect he had when he provoked Ebi Smolarek, supposedly by sticking a finger up his ass (ouch!). Maybe all those events are not directly connected, but they all make me the impression that Franz Smuda is losing the control of the team. How many times have you heard the players who are part of the team openly questioning the coach’s ideas?

Goalkeepers:

Artur Boruc (Fiorentina): 90 minutes against Milan
Tomasz Kuszczak (ManUtd): 90 minutes against Fulham
Sebastian Małkowski (Lechia Gdańsk): 90 minutes against Cracovia, note 3
Grzegorz Sandomierski (Jagiellonia Bialystok): 90 minutes against Arka, note 5
Wojciech Szczęsny (Arsenal London): not in the squad against Blackpool, injury
Przemyslaw Tytoń (Roda Kerkrade): not in the squad against Twente, injury
Łukasz Załuska (Celtic Glasgow): on the bench against St Mirren

Defenders:

Blażej Augustyn (Catania): 90 minutes against Bari
Piotr Brożek (Trabzonspor): 90 minutes against Galatasaray
Piotr Celeban (Śląsk Wrocław): 90 minutes against Widzew, note 5
Dariusz Dudka (AJ Auxerre): 90 minutes and a goal against St Etienne
Kamil Glik (Bari): on the bench against Catania
Arkadiusz Głowacki (Trabzonspor): 90 minutes against Galatasaray
Tomasz Jodłowiec (Polonia Warsaw): 90 minutes against Lech, note 6
Marcin Kikut (Lech Poznań): 90 minutes against Polonia, note 5
Łukasz Piszczek (Borussia Dortmund): 90 minutes against HSV
Jakub Rzeźniczak (Legia Warsaw): 90 minutes against Zagłębie, note 6
Maciej Sadlok (Polonia Warsaw): not in the squad against Lech
Marcin Wasilewski (Anderlecht): on the bench against Club Brugge
Grzegorz Wojtkowiak (Lech Poznań): on the bench against Polonia
Hubert Wołąkiewicz (Lech Poznań): not in the squad against Polonia
Michał Żewłakow (Ankaragucu): not in the squad against Gaziantespor

Midfielders:

Tomasz Bandrowski (Lech Poznan): not in the squad against Polonia, injury
Jakub Błaszczykowski (Borussia Dortmund): 28 minutes and a goal against HSV
Ariel Borysiuk (Legia Warsaw): 79 minutes against Zagłębie, note 5
Mateusz Cetnarski (GKS Belchatow): 57 minutes against Górnik, note 5
Tomasz Cywka (Derby County): not in the squad against Coventry
Janusz Gol (Legia Warsaw): not in the squad against Zagłębie
Roger Guerreiro (AEK Athens): 45 minutes against Larisa
Maciej Iwański (Manisaspor): 67 minutes against Konyaspor
Jacek Kiełb (Lech Poznań): not in the squad against Polonia
Tomasz Kupisz (Jagiellonia Bialystok): 90 minutes and an assist against Arka, note 5
Grzegorz Krychowiak (Stade Reims): 90 minutes against Grenoble
Radosław Majewski (Nottingham Forest): 90 minutes against Reading
Patryk Małecki (Wisla Krakow): 62 minutes and an assist against Korona, note 5
Adam Matuszczyk (FC Koeln): 90 minutes against Borussia M.
Adrian Mierzejewski (Polonia Warsaw): 90 minutes against Lech, note 6
Rafał Murawski (Lech Poznań): 90 minutes against Polonia, note 6
Ludovic Obraniak (Lille): 7 minutes against Monaco
Sławomir Peszko (FC Koeln): 70 minutes and an assist against Borussia M.
Maciej Rybus (Legia Warsaw): 64 minutes against Zagłębie, note 5
Bartosz Salamon (Foggia): 76 minutes against Pisa
Cezary Wilk (Wisła Kraków): 28 minutes against Korona

Attackers:

Paweł Brożek (Trabzonspor): 4 minutes against Galatasaray
Kamil Grosicki (Sivasspor): 73 minutes against Istanbul
Michał Janota (Go Ahead Eagles): not in the squad against Waalwijk
Ireneusz Jeleń (AJ Auxerre): 90 minutes against St Etienne
Michał Kucharczyk (Legia Warsaw): 90 minutes against Zagłębie, note 7
Robert Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund): 62 minutes against HSV
Andrzej Niedzielan (Korona Kielce): 90 minutes against Wisła, note 5
Dawid Nowak (GKS Belchatow): 90 minutes and an assist against Górnik, note 6
Szymon Pawłowski (Zagłębie Lubin): not in the squad against Legia
Dawid Plizga (Zagłębie Lubin): not in the squad against Legia, injury
Marcin Robak (Konyaspor): 90 minutes against Manisaspor
Ebi Smolarek (Polonia Warsaw): 62 minutes and a red card against Lech, note 3
Artur Sobiech (Polonia Warsaw): 90 minutes and a goal against Lech, note 7

Summary: The encounter between Polonia Warsaw and Lech Poznań on Friday was one of the most tense games of the season. First of all, it was a rivalry between two coaches: Jacek Zieliński who coached Kolejorz before and took control of Polonia lately, and Jose Bakero, a former Polonia coach and the current Lech coach. To add a bit of spice to the game, Ebi Smolarek accused Manuel Arboleda of being a cry-baby in one of the mid week interviews. The game didn’t turn out to be extremely interesting in terms of a football spectacle; Lech are in a very poor form at the moment and couldn’t even dominate Polonia when they were playing with a man less. The team from Warsaw is better organized after JW re-employed Zieliński. The most interesting things were happening far from the ball. First, Ebi elbowed Maniek and was lucky not to be sent off (the referee didn’t notice it). Smolarek continued his assault later when he punched Arboleda in the face. Clear red card for such an idiotic behaviour. However, after the game Ebi explained that he was provoked by Arboleda and his now famous wandering finger. This all resulted in one of the most severe criticism aimed at one player that I’ve ever heard watching the Ekstraklasa. It’s no secret that no Polish player likes Arboleda said Adrian Mierzejewski. I wanted to hit him myself admitted Tomasz Jodłowiec. Artur Sobiech added that we don’t need such a national team player. Wow, that’s a lot of hatred aimed at one person. To be honest, though I support Kolejorz, I understand the reactions of Polonia players. Arboleda hasn’t been his usual self after the rumours of granting him the Polish citizenship surfaced. It seems like this whole commotion really got to his head. He’s not the rock solid defender he was last year, he’s at times too slow and makes wrong decisions. He tries to make up for his poor form by provoking other players and acting like a victim in each and every situation on the pitch. Arboleda falls down after each physical contact with the striker, questions every decision made by the referee and quarrels with opposing players every time the game is stopped. His behaviour became extremely irritating, even for Lech fans. Maniek’s explanation? He thinks that all league players set their minds on him, want to harm him. He states that this is the proof of his importance and doesn’t agree that he’s in poor form currently. In other words, the recent events didn’t make him wonder at all. It didn’t make him rethink his behaviour. Arboleda blames everyone around expect himself. Smuda’s reaction to the ‘finger’ scandal proved that he can do his maths. Though Franz first critisized Sobiech (as a rookie he shouldn’t voice his opinions because he may not be called up to the team as well), he then admitted that he won’t need Arboleda in his team if he continues to underperform. Maniek didn’t receive the full support from his former coach. It proves that Smuda won’t risk incorporating Arboleda in the team at all costs. The Kolejorz defender didn’t recall his desire to represent Poland.

Apart from the fact that the citizenship for Arboleda has so far caused more problems than profit, the scandal also shows that Smuda doesn’t have as much respect among players as it was thought. The Polonia teammates weren’t afraid to voice their opinions, even though they knew that by that they completely reject Franz’s policy. Even earlier, Robert Lewandowski voiced his cocerns about the lack of proper startegy for the team. I don’t think that you can undermine the coach’s philosophy more than Lewy did. In my opinion the players’ sudden outburst of opinions was caused by two aspects. First of all, the players weren’t satisfied with the way Smuda resigned from Michał Żewłakow. It’s no secret that the players have utmost respect for Żewłak for what he achieved on international stage and it was more their initiative than Smuda’s to give the former captain a farewell game. Moreover, Smuda prohibited the team from attending Żewłak’s post game farewell party; a decision that’s hard to understand (it was after the game and the players wanted to honour their friend) and a one that wasn’t very popular among the players. Secondly, I think that the players themselves see that the team isn’t going in the right direction and they try to intervene on their own. Nobody will openly confront Smuda, they are too scared to lose a place in the Euro squad, but they are sending signs to the coach that not all is well. The problem is whether Smuda can intrepret these signs and rethink his approach and a couple of decisions he made. As far as I know Franz, it will be very hard to achieve. He’s a type of person who finds it hard to react to criticism and becomes only more stubborn because of it. He’s already excluded Boruc and Żewłakow from the team; it also doesn’t seem that he’ll change his opinion about Patryk Małecki or Radosław Majewski. The more criticism Smuda receives, the more inflexible he is in his approach. I don’t want to sound pessimistic, but at the moment it seems like Franz’s conception of a team is falling apart even before it was realised.

Ireneusz Jeleń’s agent announced that his client won’t prolong his contract with Auxerre and will look for a new club next season. It sounds like a very risky and a bit mistimed decision. The best time for Jeleń to leave was after the last extraordinary season; Jeleń even had an offer from Marseille on the table, but failed the medical tests. Now, he won’t receive such a lucrative offer and can’t expect to be approached by a top European club, especially that he’s already 30. What’s more, it’s a risky decision considering Jeleń’s involvement in Euro 2012. He felt at home in Auxerre and now he’ll have to get used to new circumstances, just a year before Euros. For me, the best solution for him would be to stay in Ligue 1; a division taht he knows and feels confident in.

Highlights:

Kuba Błaszczykowski rescues a point for Dortmund

Another assist by Peszko in the Bundesliga

Sobiech scores a decisive goal against Lech

Smolarek vs. Arboleda during the match…

… and after the game